Despite government incentives, the concept of green buildings has failed to catch the fancy of real estate developers here. This is much in contrast to booming real estate markets like Gurgaon (Haryana), Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad where “green” is the in-thing.
Section 33 (7) of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (Planning and Standards) Regulation 2008 gives concession to platinum or gold certified green buildings. The BDA may refund fee proportionate to 0.10 premium floor area ratio to the developer of such buildings as per the regulation. “I don’t think any developer has sought approval for a green building in city so far though there is an incentive. It is yet to catch their attention here,” said Deoranjan Kumar Singh, vice-chairman of BDA.
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) of The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) certify buildings on green quotient. The buildings are certified platinum, gold and silver for leadership in energy and environmental design.
IGBC, which started green building movement in the country in 2001, defines green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less wastes and provides healthier spaces for occupants as compared to a conventional building.
Green buildings use non-conventional sources of energy such as wind, water, solar heat against non-renewable fuels like coal and crude oil. Besides, designs are made for minimum energy consumption by way of natural lighting and ventilation.
Builders say it is a comparatively new concept and will take time to break ground. “It is relatively a new concept. But we have already started exploring the possibility of going green,” said D S Tripathy, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), Odisha chapter.
Credai in association with TERI at the national level has taken up an initiative to create awareness among its members about the concept, Tripathy said.
The developers said more incentives should be given to developers for constructing green buildings. The small percentage of fee refund is too less compared to the input cost for a green structure. “The government should work out lucrative incentives to encourage green building concept,” said Pradipta Kumar Biswasray, president of Real Estate Developers Association of Orissa (Reda). Biswasray said alluring government sops for green projects in Haryana may be a reason why scores of such constructions have come up in Gurgaon. ITC, Wipro technologies and HSBC House in Gurgaon have platinum rating.
The only green initiative so far in Odisha is that new government buildings and institutions have to adhere to energy conservation building code (ECBC) of the energy department. “In public private partnership projects, BDA is also asking its partners to adhere to ECBC,” said Prashant Patnaik, planning member of BDA. However, more incentives should be given for eco-friendly sustainable projects, which do minimum harm to the nature and consume less energy, emits less waste, Patnaik said.
According to UNEP figures, the buildings sector accounts for one-third of energy related carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Nearly 60 per cent of world’s electricity is consumed in residential and commercial buildings.
